Crushing Multiple Cans

This is possibly a very silly question, I am not experienced in this field.

I am creating a Can Crusher for a project.

If it takes 8n to crush a can. Will it still take 8n to crush multiple cans joined together end by end?
Also, if multiple cans were being crushed on a platform, against another platform. Lets say, 4 cans on the platform side by side, all vertical. Will it take 8n to crush all 4 cans side by side?

Staff: Mentor

This is possibly a very silly question, I am not experienced in this field.

I am creating a Can Crusher for a project.

If it takes 8n to crush a can. Will it still take 8n to crush multiple cans joined together end by end?
Also, if multiple cans were being crushed on a platform, against another platform. Lets say, 4 cans on the platform side by side, all vertical. Will it take 8n to crush all 4 cans side by side?

Thanks,
Dan.

Tim's hint is good for your question. In addition, though, on a project optimization issue, are you just pushing down on the cans to crush them, or are you doing something else first to lower the force (significantly) needed to crush the can?

Surely each column has the 8N crush strength, so multiple columns will require multiple times 8N to crush reliably. Obviously there could be uneven stacking, so one column is carrying the load for a bit, but once the load is shared, 8N will not do the job.